By CANDIA DAMES, Guardian News Editor

The government has yet to announce details of a mortgage assistance program Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham promised more than a month ago.

Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette recently told The Nassau Guardian that he did not have specifics on such a plan, but he said the government was working on one.

Prime Minister Ingraham revealed the government's intention in Washington, DC, last month when he attended the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group.

He said the relief plan will be implemented by this month, but only after the government has had a chance to consult with lenders.

"[We will] put in place a relief program for homeowners who are unemployed or who because of circumstances clearly beyond their means are unable to continue to keep current on their mortgage payments at the moment," Ingraham said at the time. "And where banks are unwilling to work with them to continue to preserve their ownership of those homes we will put in place a program to be able to assist such persons probably as early as the beginning of next month, November."

He added, "In times of economic downturn such as what we have now, it is important for the government to be able to come to the aid of the most vulnerable in the society."

In his national address on the economy a week ago, the prime minister said unemployment is now a most serious concern, and he said the government was considering the implementation of a temporary unemployment assistance program to be administered by the National Insurance Board.

Ingraham also noted that some commercial banks have already implemented delinquency management techniques to help their clients.

But the prime minister did not unveil specifics about what the government had in mind.

Managing Director of the Mortgage Corporation of the Bahamas Jerome Godfrey said Friday he had not yet received any instructions from the Office of the Prime Minister regarding the government's mortgage relief program.

But Godfrey said the corporation was already providing assistance to laid off workers, like those from Atlantis, who are facing or will likely face problems in meeting their mortgage payments.

"In keeping with what [the prime minister] has said generally we are implementing whatever assistance persons would need from us," Godfrey told The Nassau Guardian.

"Here again, we are encouraging persons to come in to see us so that we can firstly identify their unique problems...and then we would be prepared to facilitate the assistance that is needed by these individuals."

Godfrey said he did not have at his fingertips information on arrears up to October, but he said they are up.

"The increases are due mainly to persons who have had a reduced workweek and we have had to deal with those persons because the income that they would normally have to enable them to afford the monthly payments is no longer there," Godfrey said.

The commercial banks have started running advertisements asking people facing financial difficulties to come in and talk.

In his national address, Prime Minister Ingraham said evidence of weakness in the economy is reflected in deterioration in the asset quality of the banking system. Non-performing loans, that is, loans on which payments have not been made for at least three months, have increased by nearly 40 percent, he revealed.

Another revealing indicator is the ratio of loans in arrears to total claims outstanding which has risen to 10.4 percent in 2008 compared with 8.6 percent in 2007 and 7.6 percent in 2006, Ingraham said.